William Preucil

William Preucil became concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra in April 1995 and has appeared regularly as a soloist with the Orchestra in concerto performances at both Severance Hall and Blossom Music Center. Prior to joining The Cleveland Orchestra, Mr. Preucilserved for seven seasons as first violinist of the Grammy-winning Cleveland Quartet, performing more than 100 concerts each year in the world’s major music capitals. Telarc International recorded the Cleveland Quartet performing the complete cycle of Beethoven’s 17 string quartets, as well as a variety of chamber works by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Brahms.

From 1982 to 1989, William Preucil served as concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, after previously holding the same position with the orchestras of Utah and Nashville. During his tenure in Atlanta, he appeared with the Atlanta Symphony as soloist in 70 performances of 15 different concertos. Composer Stephen Paulus’s Violin Concerto was written for, and dedicated to, Mr. Preucil, who premiered it and then recorded it for New World Records with the Atlanta Symphony and conductor Robert Shaw. Mr. Preucil also has made solo appearances with the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Hong Kong, Minnesota, Rochester,and Taipei.

Mr. Preucil regularly performs chamber music, as a guest soloist with other orchestras, and at summer music festivals. His North American festival performances have included Santa Fe, Sarasota, Seattle, and Sitka, with international appearances in France, Germany, and Switzerland. Each summer, he serves as concertmaster and violin soloist with the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra in San Diego. Mr. Preucil also continues to perform as a member of the Lanier Trio, whose recording of the complete Dvořák piano trios was honored as one of Time magazine’s top 10 compact discs for 1993. The Lanier Trio also has recorded the trios of Mendelssohn and Paulus for Gasparo Records.

Actively involved as an educator, Mr. Preucil serves as Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Furman University.

He previously taught at the Eastman School of Music and at the University of Georgia.

William Preucil began studying violin at the age of five with his mother, Doris Preucil, a pioneer in Suzuki violin instruction in the United States. At 16, he graduated with honors from the Interlochen Arts Academy and entered Indiana University to study with Josef Gingold (former concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra). He was awarded a performer’s certificate at Indiana University and also studied with Zino Francescatti and György Sebök.

Upcoming Events

Students from CIM and the CWRU early music program present a wide range of repertoire in this series of early evening performances. To make your evening even more musical, attend the 8pm CIM Orchestra Concert at Severance.

Presented in collaboration with the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Case Western Reserve University Music Department.